12 stunning images of nature courtesy the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 contest

Having been run for 57 years by the Natural History Museum in London, the competition showcases exceptional nature photography from around the globe

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This startling image shows a group of cheetahs struggling in the torrents of a river in Kenya.

This startling image shows a group of cheetahs struggling in the torrents of a river in Kenya.

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This striking shot shows a lioness in Tanzania mid-meal, the bright red oxygenated blood dripping from her muzzle indicating that her wildebeest meal is still alive.

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In the wake of a fishing boat, a slick of dead and dying herrings covers the surface of the sea off the coast of Norway. Image Courtesy: Audun Rikardsen/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021

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After a feed of special formula milk, an orphaned grey-headed flying-fox pup lies on a ‘mumma roll’, sucking on a dummy and cradled in the hand of wildlife-carer Bev. She was three weeks old when she was found on the ground in Melbourne, Australia, and taken to a shelter.

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As dusk starts to fall, an Apollo butterfly settles on an oxeye daisy. The photographer captured the enchanting scene while on holiday in the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park, on the French-Swiss border.

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Three rose-ringed parakeet chicks pop their heads out of the nest hole as their father returns with food. Image Courtesy: Gagana Mendis Wickramasinghe/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021

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In deep water off the French Mediterranean coast, among cold-water black coral, the photographer came across a surreal sight – a vibrant community of thousands of narwhal shrimps.

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Clutched in the coils of a golden tree snake, a red-spotted tokay gecko stays clamped onto its attacker’s head in a last attempt at defence. The photographer was looking at birds at a park near his home in Bangkok, Thailand, when his attention was caught by the loud croaking and hissing warnings of the gecko.

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Houses on the edge of Kakinada city reach the estuary, buffered from the sea by the remains of a mangrove swamp.

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In southern California, USA, a juvenile white-tailed kite reaches to grab a live mouse from the clutches of its hovering father.

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The fox was busy searching in the shallows for salmon carcasses – sockeye salmon that had died after spawning.

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When the photographer spotted this tarantula hawk wasp dragging a tarantula across his kitchen floor, in Quito, Ecuador, he rushed to get his camera.

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